Previously:
There have been just 5 games through the first 12 weeks of the season where one team led, on average, by at least 20 points throughout the game. Two of those games were Patriots blowouts of the Jets, where New England dominated from start to finish and the Jets offense never scored in 120 minutes. The other 3 games were all Baltimore Ravens wins: over Miami in week 1, over Cincinnati in week 10, and then most impressively, against the Rams in week 12. For the season, New England still has the best Game Script overall (+9.3), but the Ravens (+8.9) are closing in, and the 49ers (+7.1) are the only other team above +3.3.
In week 12, the Colts and Bills stood out as extremely run-heavy. For Indianapolis, what more is there to say than this: the Colts trailed by 3 points during every play run by the team in the 4th quarter. Indianapolis called 15 plays during this time period, and 10 of them were runs.
Jacoby Brissett finished 16 of 25 for just 129 passing yards, with one sack and three scrambles for 15 yards. He averaged just 2.6 air yards per completion. Meanwhile, Colts running backs Jonathan Williams and Nyheim Hines had 34 carries for 155 yards and a touchdown, and Indianapolis has seemed to become more run-heavy as the season progressed. Since Brissett’s injury against the Steelers, he has not looked very good. On the season, the Colts rank 3rd in rushing yards and 29th in passing yards, which makes the decision to extend Brissett in September look even more curious.
As for Buffalo, it’s not surprising to see the Bills take the air out of the ball when they control the game. Buffalo finished with three 50+ yard rushers in a 20-3 win against the Broncos, and set a season high with 244 rushing yards. The table below shows the full week 12 Game Scripts data:
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | @ | LAR | Boxscore | 45 | 6 | 39 | 20.3 | 26 | 48 | 35.1% | 39 | 9 | 81.3% |
| SFO | GNB | Boxscore | 37 | 8 | 29 | 15.8 | 23 | 22 | 51.1% | 42 | 28 | 60% | |
| CLE | MIA | Boxscore | 41 | 24 | 17 | 15.3 | 35 | 32 | 52.2% | 43 | 20 | 68.3% | |
| NYJ | OAK | Boxscore | 34 | 3 | 31 | 14.2 | 30 | 31 | 49.2% | 35 | 23 | 60.3% | |
| TEN | JAX | Boxscore | 42 | 20 | 22 | 11.7 | 19 | 33 | 36.5% | 51 | 27 | 65.4% | |
| BUF | DEN | Boxscore | 20 | 3 | 17 | 7.5 | 26 | 47 | 35.6% | 29 | 17 | 63% | |
| TAM | @ | ATL | Boxscore | 35 | 22 | 13 | 6.7 | 28 | 34 | 45.2% | 61 | 19 | 76.3% |
| SEA | @ | PHI | Boxscore | 17 | 9 | 8 | 6.5 | 31 | 26 | 54.4% | 48 | 23 | 67.6% |
| NOR | CAR | Boxscore | 34 | 31 | 3 | 6.3 | 40 | 18 | 69% | 41 | 29 | 58.6% | |
| NWE | DAL | Boxscore | 13 | 9 | 4 | 4.1 | 39 | 27 | 59.1% | 33 | 26 | 55.9% | |
| CHI | NYG | Boxscore | 19 | 14 | 5 | 2.9 | 43 | 26 | 62.3% | 37 | 21 | 63.8% | |
| WAS | DET | Boxscore | 19 | 16 | 3 | 2.1 | 33 | 24 | 57.9% | 39 | 32 | 54.9% | |
| PIT | @ | CIN | Boxscore | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0.7 | 30 | 38 | 44.1% | 30 | 21 | 58.8% |
| HOU | IND | Boxscore | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0.4 | 31 | 24 | 56.4% | 26 | 39 | 40% |
The Saints and Falcons were the two most pass-happy teams of week 12, although neither was all that extreme. Drew Brees was remarkably accurate when throwing to his top three targets, completing 25 of 28 passes for 248 yards and 2 TDs. The Saints had a small lead most of the game, but continued to be pass-heavy — and understandably so. As for the Falcons, the team’s running backs had 34 rushing yards on 17 carries, which might explain why the Falcons quarterbacks finished with a whopping 61 dropbacks.